BlackBerry still has a firm hold on Washington, probably not changing anytime soon

While dreary reports continue to plague RIM, Washington is at least tentatively committed to the beleaguered BlackBerry. After a recent quarterly report that was, in a word, horrific, many have expressed serious fear about RIM’s ability to stay afloat. But according to The Washington Post, BlackBerry still has many friends on Capitol Hill, and even more that are stuck with the devices thanks to all that wonderful red tape in Washington.

“We appreciate RIM’s focus on security, which is paramount for government use,” said Casey Coleman, the chief information officer at the General Services Administration. Coleman went on to state that while some iPhones and Android devices have been issued to staffers, the vast majority of its 12,000 devices are made by RIM.

While the report by the Post can be taken as generally good news for RIM, it’s mostly a final notice. The general idea is that as soon as Android, or other OSes, gets a little more secure, we may see a mass switchover. Some of the big obstacles keeping RIM inside the capitol are IT departments and tech staffers well versed in BlackBerry tech, as well as BlackBerry’s typical cheaper prices.

So what do you think—if RIM can really hit it out of the park with BlackBerry 10, and perhaps sign a licensing deal, will its well-entrenched government and enterprise user base help it rebound? Or is the door closing for good on the original smartphone?